Legendary Entertainment — Hollywood’s high-profile producer and big-budget studio co-financier — has struck a deal to adapt Syd Hoff’s classic children’s picture book series Danny and the dinosaur into a live-action feature film.
The film adaptation is being produced with Caroline Fraser of HarperCollins Productions, HarperCollins Publisher’s in-house production company. Danny and the dinosaur follows Danny and a dinosaur he meets in a museum and the adventures they have together.
Those include Danny and the dinosaur playing together all day long, going on a trip to the big city, visiting the zoo, eating ice cream and letting other kids jump on the dinosaur like a slide.
The comic series, which has sold more than 11 million copies in 12 languages, was first published by HarperCollins in 1958. Legendary acquired the rights to the book series from the Authors Guild Foundation, with the Anti-Defamation League Foundation, ORT America, Inc. . and the United Negro College fund.
HarperCollins Productions bought the media rights Danny and the dinosaur from the Author’s Guild Foundation and turned to Legendary to bring the content to life on screen.
Hoff was a humorist who made thousands of cartoons in his lifetime. His work also appeared in many other magazines, including Esquire and The Saturday Night Postand in a nationally syndicated daily feature.
The deal follows Legendary’s finding a new home with Sony Pictures. Legendary’s films will be distributed and marketed by Sony worldwide, with the exception of China, where Legendary East will perform these duties.
Sony will also provide home entertainment and TV distribution for those films. Sony does not have a streaming service and Legendary will continue to partner with other companies for streaming, as it does with Netflix on the Enola Holmes movies.
